Abstract 504

Ravindran,V; Sriskandarjah,-N; Rajaguru,-ASB

Dep. Animal Science, Peradeniya Univ., Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Agricultural-Wastes. 1984, 11: 2, 115-124; 10 ref.

The utilization by broiler chickens of byproducts of the distillation of sap obtained from the floral spadix of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), was studied in 3 trials. The byproducts (CDB) contained, on average, crude protein 27.1 (range from 20.9 to 31.7), ether extract 2.3, crude fibre 4.9, ash 10.3, nitrogen-free extract 55.4 g/100 g DM and was a good source of essential amino acids. In experiment 1 it was found that CDB at 5 or 10% in a commercial finishing diet gave similar or better performance than did similar concentrations of local fish meal or skimmed milk powder in diets. In 2 other trials isoenergetic and isonitrogenous diets with CDB at 8 or 12% or at 10 or 15%, replaced coconut oilmeal. It was concluded that CDB could be used at up to 15% in broiler diets and it was suggested that they may contain unidentified growth factors.